''Goin' South'' is a 1978 American
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
directed by and starring
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-de ...
, with
Mary Steenburgen,
Christopher Lloyd,
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi ( ; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, singer and musician. He was one of seven ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members of the first season. He was arguably the most popular member of the ''Satur ...
,
Richard Bradford,
Veronica Cartwright,
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him ...
and
Ed Begley Jr.
Plot
Henry Lloyd Moon is a third-rate
outlaw
An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...
in the late 1860s; a convicted bank robber, horse thief and cattle thief. He is sentenced to be
hanged in Longhorn,
Texas
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, to the glee of the locals who gather to watch his execution. A local ordinance dictates that a man convicted of any crime other than murder may be freed, if a lady will marry him and take responsibility for his good behavior. Well aware of the ordinance, many of the townswomen scrutinize Moon as he mounts the gallows.
An elderly woman offers to marry him, but dies on the spot immediately. As Moon is dragged back to the gallows, Julia Tate—a headstrong, genteel
virgin
Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
from
the South—agrees to marry and take charge of him. She weds Moon, intending only to use him as labor in a secret
gold mine under her property. This slowly evolves into a shaky partnership as he gains her trust, then develops into much more. Her chastity and his desire to consummate the marriage become a source of friction. Although they do spend the night together in a cave, she regrets her decision the following morning, and in anger, Moon ties her to the bed and, it is implied, sexually assaults her. He tries to flee town but is brought back by the sheriff's men, where Julia covers for him. The two patch things up, realizing they truly care for each other.
When a cave-in at the mine uncover a significant vein of gold, the two go back to talking like business partners rather than people who care for each other, with Moon negotiating for 25% of the gold. They store the gold, closed in a small chest, in the town's bank, claiming it is a collection of (heavy) figurines. Julia later increases it to 50%, admitting that they are more than mere business partners.
Moon's old gang complicates matters when they arrive at Julia's home and introduce the
teetotalling Julia to intoxicating beverages. They discover that Julia and Moon are mining gold. Julia gets jealous when Herminea member of the gangtries (unsuccessfully) to renew a past sexual relation with Moon. Julia rejects Moon, who then schemes with his gang to betray Julia and steal the gold in two days, wanting to extract more gold from the mine in order to further torment Julia.
The next day, Julia narrowly averts death in a more severe cave-in. The incident makes them realize how intensely they care for each other. The day of the planned robbery, Moon goes to the bank before it opens, steals the chest, only to take it back to Julia to protect it from his gang. Finding that Julia had put stones in the chest, has sold her farm to the railroad, and has already left town with the gold, he chases down her stagecoach. Julia convinces Moon that they take their gold and money and follow his dream of opening a cantina in Mexico, where the Texas authorities can't touch him.
Cast
Production
The film was co-written by John Herman Shaner and produced by Harry Gittes, both longtime friends of Jack Nicholson from his early days in Hollywood.
''Goin' South'' marks the film debut of Mary Steenburgen, who had been a waitress in New York hoping to break into acting and after being turned down repeatedly for film roles; it launched her career in Hollywood. Christopher Lloyd, who worked with Nicholson on ''
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'', plays Deputy Towfield. Lloyd and Steenburgen reunited 12 years later as love interests in another western-comedy,
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential movies, often blending cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling. He has received several accolades incl ...
' ''
Back to the Future Part III''.
''Goin' South'' was John Belushi's second film—after ''
Animal House
''National Lampoon's Animal House'' is a 1978 American comedy film directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller (writer), Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Tom ...
'', having been a ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' cast member for several years.
It was the second of three films directed by Nicholson. The first was 1971's ''
Drive, He Said'' and the third was the ''Chinatown'' sequel ''
The Two Jakes'', released in 1990. This marks the first film in which Nicholson appears as the primary actor while directing. He does not appear in ''Drive, He Said'', but did star in and direct ''The Two Jakes''.
The credits state that the film was shot in
Durango
Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...
, Mexico.
Reception
''Goin' South'' was not a hit upon release in 1978 with critics or audiences. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, it has a 69% approval rating based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, it holds a 52 score based on 9 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
''
Variety'' wrote: "Jack Nicholson playing
Gabby Hayes is interesting, even amusing at times, but Hayes was never a leading man, which ''Goin' South'' desperately needs," adding that the "largely uninteresting" relationship between the Nicholson and Steenburgen characters "never jells, as Nicholson continues to sputter and chomp, acting more like her grandfather than a handsome roué out to overcome her virginity."
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune'' who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert.
Siskel started writing for the '' ...
of the ''
Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and stated that "Jack Nicholson may be cute, but two hours of cute he is not ... Nicholson as director takes his own sweet time, giving us scene after scene of him acting silly. My guess is that he doesn't think he is being indulgent with the character, because half the time he puts the character down. But the result is the same: Jack and more Jack. The film could use more of John Belushi, the ''Animal House'' star, wasted here in a walk-on as a fat Mexican deputy sheriff. What ''Goin' South'' could also use is a credible villain."
Charles Champlin
Charles Davenport Champlin (March 23, 1926 – November 16, 2014) was an American film critic and writer.
Life and career
Champlin was born in Hammondsport, New York. He attended high school in Camden, New York, working as a columnist for the ...
of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' was positive, writing: "There ain't much to it, to drop into the cackling vernacular of the movie, but what there is, is choice. Nicholson, directing for the first time since ''Drive, He Said'', has a fine way with actors, including himself, and he sets and sustains a tone that is larger than life but not so broad as to be only farcically foolish." Gary Arnold of ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' called the film "a stupefying throwback" that "expires right before your eyes from a terminal case of the feebles," with Nicholson and Steenburgen "a bust" as a romantic comedy team.
David Ansen of ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' wrote: "Droll, sweet-tempered and lackadaisical, it's a shaggy-dog story with Nicholson playing the shaggy dog ... Unfortunately, after a highly inventive first half, the tale gets mighty thin, and the waifish Steenburgen doesn't have enough range to carry her share of the romantic burden. Just when ''Goin' South'' needs to build, the pace gets poky and the wit becomes mere whimsy. A little less coyness, and a lot more John Belushi (as a Mexican deputy), would have helped."
Lawrence O'Toole wrote in ''
Maclean's
''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...
'': "Every time Nicholson beams his gin-soaked grin into the movie, ''Goin' South'' is momentarily salvaged; but everything and everybody outside him seem to atrophy in the sun. It's his second crack at directing ... and he's not untalented, yet the selection of shots doesn't have the rhythmic grace to pull us into the wispy narrative."
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...
of ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' stated: "Nicholson's prankish performance dominates the movie, and, with his prankishness also coming out in the casting and the directing, the movie hasn't any stabilizing force; there's nothing to balance what he's doing—no one with a stratjacket."
Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kauffmann (April 24, 1916 – October 9, 2013) was an American writer, editor, and critic of film and theater.
Career
Kauffmann started with ''The New Republic'' in 1958 and contributed film criticism to that magazine for the next 55 ye ...
of ''
The New Republic
''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...
'' wrote that ''Goin' South'' "is boring after about the sixth minute, an especially irritating bore because there's an idea in it for a good Nicholson picture".
Mary Steenburgen earned a nomination for the
Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
The Golden Globe for New Star of the Year – Actress was an award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at their annual Golden Globe Awards.
History
The award was first introduced at the 5th Golden Globe Awards in 1948 where it was ...
.
References
External links
*
{{Jack Nicholson
1978 films
1970s Western (genre) comedy films
American Western (genre) comedy films
Films directed by Jack Nicholson
Paramount Pictures films
Films with screenplays by Charles Shyer
Films scored by Perry Botkin Jr.
Films scored by Van Dyke Parks
Films set in Texas
Films shot in Mexico
1978 comedy films
1970s English-language films
1970s American films
English-language Western (genre) comedy films